Party! Party! Party!

We had three birthday parties this weekend!

On Saturday, Claire helped her friend Hannah celebrate her fifth birthday. It was a very fancy spa party where all of the girls dressed up in costumes, got manicures and pedicures, had their hair styled and glittered (!) and had their makeup done (I even scheduled a pedicure for myself!).

This was the fanciest party we've been to! Pizza, juice and cupcakes were served and the girls had several opportunities to dance together. Claire had a fabulous time!!! In the car on the way home, Claire said that she wanted to have her next birthday party there. If we end up going with a "girls only" sixth birthday party, this may be a possibility.

After getting all dolled up, it was off to Michael's first birthday party at his house. The kids played with all of the toys and jumped and bounced in the bounce house. The weather was perfect for an outdoor party -- they really lucked out! We enjoyed some delicious food and desserts. The highlight of the party was when Michael ate his monkey cake. He loved every second of it, taking handful after handful and attempting to get it in his mouth. So sweet!

Arriving at Frog Falls with Thomas

On Sunday we headed to Frog Falls for Dylan's fourth birthday party. It was another gorgeously perfect day! Dylan's mommy planned an airplane theme for the party which was awesome -- boarding pass invitations, airplane cookies, airplane-shaped watermelon fruit salad, airplane cake, etc. So creative! We had so much fun swimming and cooling off in the water with the birthday boy and many friends.

Dylan with his gorgeous (and delicious) cake that my cousin made.

Follow Me!

Very soon (in the next several days), I'm going to make this blog private so only my followers will be able to read it. That being said, if you want to continue to read Garden State Family, you have to click "Join this Site" in the upper right hand corner. Thanks!!!

A Day at the Beach

We made our yearly trek down the shore today to visit my aunt and cousins. The drive down was filled with little pockets of traffic which resulted in a 2 hour and 45 minute trip. The kids were great in the car and only asked "Are we there yet?" a few times.

The day was filled with playing in the sand, wading in the waves, swimming, building a a big sand structure for tennis balls to roll down, throwing water balloons and "sand bombs," squirting squirt guns and running from the waves. We even saw tons of dolphins swimming through the water, although, only their fins were visible.

After a full day at the beach, we left around 7:00 so we'd beat rush hour traffic. On the way home, Claire said, "Can I close my eyes for a few minutes?" She was so exhausted after such a fun day.

According to Claire, my aunt made her promise to come back again this summer. We look forward to a second trip before summer ends. Promising to go back to the beach is a promise that's easy to keep!

Princess Party with Belle

Claire and Ema (aka Belle and Rapunzel)

Our local library has had some great offerings for kids this summer -- a one man band, a bubble-blowing show and, today, we went to a princess party with Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We have been to some great shows and events and I have to say that today's party with Belle was really great! It was 45 minutes of pure princess fun!

Belle greeted all of the little princess guests, then taught them how to wave like a princess and twirl like a princess. All of the girls eagerly practiced waving and twirling. Next, Belle danced along with the girls to a few songs, then played The Hokey Pokey with them.

The audience sat down to rest after all of the dancing while Belle read a princess book. During the last part of the party Belle gave the girls clues describing a princess or prince and the girls had to shout out the name of the prince or princess after listening to all three clues.

Belle was gracious enough to pose for pictures after the party.

Summer/Chili Party '11

The only picture I took at our party! I was a bad photographer!

We had a summer/chili party yesterday so my husband could receive some feedback on his always-evolving chili recipe before he enters it into the state fair's chili competition. Even though not everyone we invited was able to attend, we ended up with a nice crowd of close friends and family.

The kids ran through the sprinkler and swam in our kiddie pool. They all got along so well!

So did the adults! Most relaxed on the patio munching on chips and dip, cherry tomato, basil and mozzarella skewers, guacamole and chips, nuts, bruschetta, a giant pretzel tray with three types of mustard and other assorted appetizers.

The chili was a huge success! Everyone really liked it. The majority of guests had the spicy, regular chili, but a few opted to have the chili my husband made especially for me -- what he likes to call the plain chili (It's not spicy at all.). Although my husband loved the glowing reviews about the chili, he was hoping for some constructive criticism on how to improve the chili because he wants to win first place this year. Let's hope this is the winning version!

Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, fresh bread and several salads were enjoyed for dinner, followed by brownies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter and jelly bars, fruit salad and apple pie for dessert.

We really had a spectacular time and think all of our guests did too!

A Busy Summer

So far, our relaxing summer is turning out to be quite scheduled. And to think I was worried about not having enough to fill the days to avoid summer boredom!

We have been so busy with swimming lessons, gymnastics and spending time at the lake with great friends (and some new friends too!). Claire has been super-friendly and will go up to any similarly-aged child (mostly girls), introduce herself and start playing in the lake. She is definitely more inclined to approach the children with strong swimming skills as she wants to be out swimming in the lake, jumping off the dock and float and sliding down the large slide.

I must say, I have been pretty friendly too! I've met a few other mommies of soon-to-be kindergartners and a few other people at the beach/lake. It is refreshing to meet new (nice!) people and I'm just thrilled that we joined this club!

Baby, We Saw Fireworks...

We went to our friends' house for a small, intimate barbecue before heading to a yacht club down the street to watch a great fireworks display over the lake. It was a great afternoon and evening. The fireworks were awesome!

Picture "stolen" from LP's FB page